https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw In the decades leading up to the American Civil War, a series of events, conflicts, and compromises influenced how the coming tragedy would play out. Failed compromises between free and slave states only heightened the tension, whilst the conflict over the issue only grew more violent. Bloodshed in Kansas foreshadowed the division of the entire country, while divisive political moves drove the nation apart. Over the decades, the nation came closer and closer to a decisive and violent showdown on the issues of slavery and the emerging cultural divides between North and South. en-us 2018-04-04 18:09:36 UTC 2024-10-01 22:49:43 UTC hello@padlet.com guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248620166 In 1787, Congress had decided to ban slavery in states north of the Ohio River. In addition, they had created an agreement to balance the number of free and slave states so that neither side would have an advantage in the Senate.
In 1819, Missouri, a territory with land on both sides of the Ohio River, applied for admission as a slave state. This would have given slave states an advantage in the Senate, and could set a precedent for slave states spreading northwards. The Senate and the House were deadlocked on what to do.
In 1820, Maine applied for admission as a free state, which would have kept the balance between free and slave states, should Missouri be admitted as well.
However, this would still set a precedent for allowing slavery to spread northwards. Congress created a line on the 36° 30' Parallel, which would serve as the dividing line for future slave and free states, although Missouri violated this same line. This was unpopular in both North and South because it only delayed the issue of slavery and did not settle it for either side.

Image Credits: "United States, 1821," Getty Images]]> 2018-04-04 18:12:08 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248620166 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248620347 Throughout the 1820s and 1830s, a new religious movement known as the Second Great Awakening encouraged many Northerners to work to help achieve freedom for those in bondage. Abolitionists put so much pressure on Congress that Congress put in place a "gag rule," in which no abolitionist petitions would be discussed, in 1836. Though intended to simply put off the issue of slavery, the gag rule only encouraged abolitionists to take more personal action in the fight against slavery. Abolitionists spread their ideas at public meetings and encouraged slaves to revolt, which led to rising fears in the South against Northern abolitionists.

Image Credits: "Abolition Frowned Down Upon," Abolition Seminar]]> 2018-04-04 18:12:28 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248620347 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248620977 Slaves from the South routinely escaped to the North, and were aided by Northern abolitionists. Slaves were expensive, so Southern landowners became enraged at Northerner collaborators, and pushed for the ability to hunt down slaves in free Northern states. 

Image Credits: "In hiding," Library of Congress]]> 2018-04-04 18:13:52 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248620977 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248621379 In 1846, then-President James Polk requested Congress for funding for the Mexican-American War. Despite the gag rule, representative David Wilmot of Pennsylvania attempted to add a clause to the funding bill in which the territories conquered in the war  would be prevented from becoming slave states. Southerners were enraged, and although the Wilmot Proviso passed the House, it failed to pass the Senate. 

Image Credit: "David Wilmot (1814 - 1868)," Library of Congress]]> 2018-04-04 18:14:39 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248621379 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248621770 In Congress, a fierce debate on whether or not to allow slavery in the territories ceded by Mexico in the Mexican-American War raged for three years without a definite solution. Southern congressmen pushed a failed compromise to extend the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific Ocean. In 1849, California applied for admission to the Union as a free state, which would have given free states a crucial advantage in the Senate. Northerners pushed for California's admission, while Southerners opposed it, leading to a deadlock in the Senate.

Image Credits: "Admission Day Celebration, Historic View, 1850, Montgomery & California Streets, San Francisco, San Francisco County, CA," Library of Congress]]> 2018-04-04 18:15:25 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248621770 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248622090 To settle the issue of slavery in the Mexican Cession, Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky, the creator of the Missouri Compromise, crafted the Compromise of 1850, intended to appeal to both North and South. 
For Northerners, Clay stipulated that California would be admitted as a free state, while the slave trade (but not the practice of slavery), would be outlawed in Washington D.C. 
For Southerners, Clay agreed to open New Mexico and Utah to slavery, while also allowing for the passing of a fugitive slave law that would give Southern slavers to catch runaway slaves in the North.
After nine months of debate, the Compromise of 1850 passed.

Image Credits: "Henry Clay," Library of Congress]]> 2018-04-04 18:16:05 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248622090 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248622399 As part of the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act completely failed to alleviate tensions about slavery. Northerners did not want to enforce it, whilst Southerners felt that it was not being enforced enough. Under the Fugitive Slave Act, caught slaves had no legal rights, and anyone who aided or refused to catch fugitive slaves could be imprisoned. However, widespread Northern opposition to the act made it nearly impossible to enforce. In Boston, crowds of abolitionists blocked and taunted slave catchers, eventually sending most of the slavers back south. Only 299 fugitive slaves were caught as a result of the Fugitive Slave Act.

Image Credits: "Practical Illustration of the Fugitive Slave Law," Library of Congress]]> 2018-04-04 18:16:39 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248622399 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248622921 In 1854, Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas tried to get a bill to organize the Great Plains into territories, which would make the construction of a railroad to California easier. However, Southern senators only agreed to support the bill if they could add several clauses. The southern revisions abolished the Missouri Compromise by creating two territories, Nebraska and Kansas, north of the 36° 30' Parallel and opening these two territories to slavery. This raised huge fears across the North about slavery spreading northwards, and Southerners failed to allay said fears.

Image Credits: "The 1850s: Road to Secession," James Henry]]> 2018-04-04 18:17:41 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248622921 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248623186 Following the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, settlers began to pour into the new territories, hoping to take advantage of the fertile soil. However, in Kansas, a sizable number of settlers migrated for political reasons. Southerners sent detachments of young men into Kansas to make it a slave state, while Northerners armed settlers to fight in Kansas against their pro-slavery counterparts. The state effectively split into pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups, which could only lead to violence. 
On May 21, 1856, pro-slavery settlers as well as "border ruffians," who were settlers from Missouri who crossed the border to commit voting fraud or attack abolitionist settlers, attacked and looted the anti-slavery town of Lawrence. This escalated tensions, and led radical abolitionist John Brown to brutally murder five men for their suspected pro-slavery views in retaliation.

Image Credits: "Ruins of the Free State Hotel in 1856," Sara T.D. Robinson]]> 2018-04-04 18:18:11 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248623186 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248623614 The sack of Lawrence was proof to Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner that Senator Steven Douglas was collaborating with southerners to spread slavery northwards. Sumner was incensed enough to begin a strongly worded speech known as "The Crime Against Kansas," in which he insulted many prominent politicians, including Steven Douglas and Senator Andrew Butler of North Carolina. This speech inflamed Southerners and prompted Representative Preston Brooks, who was Butler's nephew, to savagely beat Sumner with a metal-tipped cane. Northerners were horrified at this, while Southerners applauded Brooks for defending his family's honor.

Image Credits: "Brooks Attacks Sumner," Getty Images]]> 2018-04-04 18:18:58 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248623614 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248624179 In 1857, the case of a slave appealing for freedom reached the Supreme Court. This slave, a man known as Dred Scott, had spent several years in Wisconsin, and argued that living in a free state gave him the right to be a free man. The Supreme Court, which had five southern members and four northern members at the time, ruled that Scott was not legally allowed to sue for his freedom because he was a slave, and slaves were property, and because he was African American, and the Supreme Court ruled that African Americans could not become citizens. In addition, the Supreme Court ruled that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional because it took away slaves, considered property by the Southern judges, from Southern landowners without due process of law, which was interpreted as violating the Fifth Amendment. This only inflamed Northerners and dramatically divided the country.

Image Credits: "Dred Scott," Library of Congress]]> 2018-04-04 18:20:00 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248624179 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248624560 In the 1858 Senate race in Illinois, two statesmen, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, publicly faced off against one another on the issue of slavery. 
Douglas believed that the issue had been settled by Dred Scott, and that the nation could continue to go on divided between free and slave states. 
On the other hand, Lincoln believed that the issue of slavery was still an important one. He argued that the nation could not survive if one part of the country despised the practice, while the other applauded it. He claimed that the divisions of slave and free states undermined the stability of the Republic. 
While Douglas won the election, Lincoln's ideas became widely publicized across the country.

Image Credits: "Lincoln & Douglas in a presidential footrace," Library of Congress]]> 2018-04-04 18:20:45 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248624560 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248624960 The radical abolitionist John Brown, who had murdered five pro-slavery settlers in Kansas only two years earlier, believed that the issue of slavery could only be settled through violence. In 1858, he launched a raid on the federal military arsenal at Harper's Ferry, hoping to use the weapons captured at the arsenal to begin a slave revolt. Though Brown was caught and executed, many Northerners viewed him as a hero, while Southerners were greatly disturbed at what they saw as a Northern attempt to turn their own slaves against them.

Image Credits: John Brown, Library of Congress]]> 2018-04-04 18:21:35 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248624960 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248625142 The election of 1860 was a contentious one. The Republican Party fully supported Lincoln, while Lincoln's opposition was split between three factions. As such, Lincoln became president, despite only having 40% of the votes, all of whom were from Northern states, and not even being on the ballot in ten southern states. This was not a recipe for unity, and Lincoln's victory shocked Southerners, who began to fear that Lincoln intended to abolish slavery once and for all. The South began to fear for its way of life.

Image Credits: "Abraham Lincoln," Library of Congress]]> 2018-04-04 18:21:59 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248625142 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248625500 Following Lincoln's election as president, Southern fears began to rise, and secession became a serious topic in the South. Lincoln refused to compromise on slavery being blocked from spreading to the territories, whilst a committee in South Carolina voted to secede from the Union. After South Carolina seceded, six more states followed, forming the Confederate States of America in February 1861, the month before Lincoln's inauguration. Storm clouds were on the horizon, and the American Civil War was about to begin.

Image Credits: "Interior of Fort Sumter in April 1861 after its surrender by U.S. garrison," Library of Congress]]> 2018-04-04 18:22:52 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/248625500 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252394832 Video Credits: Missouri Compromise, History.com]]> 2018-04-17 02:16:41 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252394832 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252395374 Article Credits: "Gag rule," Encyclopaedia Britannica]]> 2018-04-17 02:19:55 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252395374 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252395397 2018-04-17 02:20:04 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252395397 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252395426 Article Credits: "Fugitive Slaves," National Archives]]> 2018-04-17 02:20:14 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252395426 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252395496 Article Credit: "Wilmot Proviso," Encyclopaedia Britannica]]> 2018-04-17 02:20:41 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252395496 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252395636 Article Credit: "California becomes the 31st state in record time," History.com

]]> 2018-04-17 02:21:36 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252395636 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252395687 Article Credits: "Compromise of1850," Encyclopaedia Britannica]]> 2018-04-17 02:21:52 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252395687 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252395771 Video Credits: Fugitive Slave Acts, History.com]]> 2018-04-17 02:22:22 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252395771 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252397252 Video Credits: Kansas-Nebraska Act, History.com]]> 2018-04-17 02:29:39 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252397252 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252397544 Article Credits: "First Sack of Lawrence," Kansas City Public Library]]> 2018-04-17 02:31:30 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252397544 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252398258 Article Credits: "Charles Sumner," History.com]]> 2018-04-17 02:35:14 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252398258 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252398555 Article Credits: "Dred Scott Decision," History.com]]> 2018-04-17 02:36:40 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252398555 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252399282 Article Credits: "Lincoln-Douglas Debates," History.com]]> 2018-04-17 02:40:45 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252399282 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252399874 Article Credits: "John Brown's Harper's Ferry Raid," Civil War Trust]]> 2018-04-17 02:44:41 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252399874 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252400255 Article Credits: "United States presidential election of 1860," Encyclopaedia Britannica]]> 2018-04-17 02:46:54 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252400255 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252400481 Article Credits: "The Gathering Storm: The Secession Crisis," Civil War Trust]]> 2018-04-17 02:48:25 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252400481 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252849688 2018-04-18 04:52:30 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/252849688 guandr22 https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/253241279 Image Credits: "The battle of Gettysburg," Library of Congress]]> 2018-04-19 00:46:28 UTC https://padlet.com/guandr22/l8zx4pgfgtqw/wish/253241279